Suit Up
After 800 wins, there had to be some way to celebrate the Orange and congratulate head coach Jim Boeheim. But when Syracuse University graduates Ian Wishingrad and Jamie Teska set out to create their memorandum, they wanted to do something many people could enjoy.
‘If you look at the 700 win or the 600 win shirt, no one wants them because they’re lame,’ Wishingrad said. ‘It doesn’t have to say, ‘Congratulations, Boeheim,’ like all the previous ones. It’s much cooler than that.’
To commemorate Boeheim’s win, Wishingrad and Teska designed and marketed T-shirts with the number 8 and two graphic renditions of Boeheim’s head, which together form the number 800.
The shirts, licensed through Manny’s on Marshall Street, will be the official tees to commemorate the win. It will be sold for $14.95 at Manny’s, the Carrier Dome and through SU Athletics’ Web site. For each shirt purchased, $5 will go toward the Jim Boeheim Foundation.
‘We wanted a shirt that has an inside joke,’ Wishingrad said. ‘You can actually wear this shirt out and it’s funny and cool, but it’s not ugly and dumb.’
The shirt holds yet another inside joke for Wishingrad and Teska, who hid their initials in the jaw of the second Boeheim head.
‘It sort of speaks for itself,’ Teska said. ‘We started out trying to make a shirt to commemorate the moment, and it started out as a regular picture of Boeheim. But we thought this idea was much more effective.’
Wishingrad first started designing two years ago, when Donte Greene was considering leaving Syracuse for the NBA. The shirt, which said ‘Don’t’e leave,’ gained national attention and was shown on ESPN. Wishingrad said the shirt led him to a job after he graduated from SU and the ‘Don’t’e leave’ shirt was also the catalyst for this year’s 800th win shirt.
‘When Greene left, we were unsuccessful. We didn’t get him to stay,’ Wishingrad said.
‘I’m in advertising, and I’ve learned what it takes to orchestrate a campaign. This shirt will do even better than the last. It will be so cool to be part of SU history.’
Published on November 9, 2009 at 12:00 pm
